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Acatarrarse is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to catch a cold”.
It’s a reflexive verb, which means the subject performs the action upon themselves – e.g. “I wake myself”.
Reflexive verbs always carry a reflexive pronoun – me, te, se, nos or os – which is often placed before the conjugated verb (e.g. me acatarro) or after the infinitive (e.g. Él tiene que acatarrarse).
Below are all of the conjugations for acatarrarse in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to catch a cold |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | acatarrarse |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está acatarrándose) and past continuous (estaba acatarrándose). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. catching a cold).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he acatarrado and hubiera acatarrado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have caught a cold).
| Gerundio / Gerund | acatarrándose |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | acatarrado |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I catch a cold” or “they catch a cold”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me acatarro |
| Tú | te acatarras |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acatarra |
| Nosotros / as | nos acatarramos |
| Vosotros / as | os acatarráis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acatarran |
| Vos | te acatarrés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I caught a cold” or “she caught a cold” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me acatarré | I caught a cold |
| Tú | te acatarraste | You caught a cold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acatarró | He / she / you caught a cold |
| Nosotros / as | nos acatarramos | We caught a cold |
| Vosotros / as | os acatarrasteis | You caught a cold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acatarraron | They / you caught a cold |
| Vos | te acatarraste | You caught a cold |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was catching a cold” or “she was catching a cold” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me acatarraba | I was catching a cold |
| Tú | te acatarrabas | You were catching a cold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acatarraba | He was / she was / you were catching a cold |
| Nosotros / as | nos acatarrábamos | We were catching a cold |
| Vosotros / as | os acatarrabais | You were catching a cold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acatarraban | They / you were catching a cold |
| Vos | te acatarrabas | You were catching a cold |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have caught a cold” and “she has caught a cold”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me he acatarrado | I have caught a cold |
| Tú | te has acatarrado | You have caught a cold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se ha acatarrado | He has / she has / you have caught a cold |
| Nosotros / as | nos hemos acatarrado | We have caught a cold |
| Vosotros / as | os habéis acatarrado | You have caught a cold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se han acatarrado | They / you have caught a cold |
| Vos | te has acatarrado | You have caught a cold |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would catch a cold” or “she would catch a cold”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me acatarraría | I would catch a cold |
| Tú | te acatarrarías | You would catch a cold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acatarraría | He / she / you would catch a cold |
| Nosotros / as | nos acatarraríamos | We would catch a cold |
| Vosotros / as | os acatarraríais | You would catch a cold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acatarrarían | They / you would catch a cold |
| Vos | te acatarrarías | You would catch a cold |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will catch a cold” or “they will catch a cold”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a acatarrarse” means “They are going to catch a cold”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me acatarraré | I will catch a cold |
| Tú | te acatarrarás | You will catch a cold |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acatarrará | He / she / you will catch a cold |
| Nosotros / as | nos acatarraremos | We will catch a cold |
| Vosotros / as | os acatarraréis | You will catch a cold |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acatarrarán | They / you will catch a cold |
| Vos | te acatarrarás | You will catch a cold |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me acatarre |
| Tú | te acatarres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acatarre |
| Nosotros / as | nos acatarremos |
| Vosotros / as | os acatarréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acatarren |
| Vos | te acatarres |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | me acatarrara | me acatarrase |
| Tú | te acatarraras | me acatarrase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acatarrara | se acatarrase |
| Nosotros / as | nos acatarráramos | nos acatarrásemos |
| Vosotros / as | os acatarrarais | os acatarraseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acatarraran | se acatarrasen |
| Vos | te acatarraras | me acatarrase |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | me acatarrare |
| Tú | te acatarrares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | se acatarrare |
| Nosotros / as | nos acatarráremos |
| Vosotros / as | os acatarrareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | se acatarraren |
| Vos | te acatarrares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “catch a cold!” and “don’t catch a cold!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | acatárrate | no te acatarres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | acatárrese | no se acatarre |
| Nosotros / as | acatarrémonos | no nos acatarremos |
| Vosotros / as | acatarraos | no os acatarréis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | acatárrense | no se acatarren |
| Vos | acatarrete | no te acatarres |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya acatarrado |
| Tú | hayas acatarrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya acatarrado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos acatarrado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis acatarrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan acatarrado |
| Vos | hayas acatarrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera acatarrado / hubiese acatarrado |
| Tú | hubieras acatarrado / hubieses acatarrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera acatarrado / hubiese acatarrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos acatarrado / hubiésemos acatarrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais acatarrado / hubieseis acatarrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran acatarrado / hubiesen acatarrado |
| Vos | hubieras acatarrado / hubieses acatarrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere acatarrado |
| Tú | hubieres acatarrado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere acatarrado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos acatarrado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis acatarrado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren acatarrado |
| Vos | hubieres acatarrado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté acatarrándose |
| Tú | estés acatarrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté acatarrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estemos acatarrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estéis acatarrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén acatarrándose |
| Vos | estés acatarrándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera acatarrándose / estuviese acatarrándose |
| Tú | estuvieras acatarrándose / estuvieses acatarrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera acatarrándose / estuviese acatarrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos acatarrándose / estuviésamos acatarrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais acatarrándose / estuvieseis acatarrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera acatarrándose / estuviese acatarrándose |
| Vos | estuvieras acatarrándose / estuvieses acatarrándose |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere acatarrándose |
| Tú | estuvieres acatarrándose |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere acatarrándose |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos acatarrándose |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis acatarrándose |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere acatarrándose |
| Vos | estuvieres acatarrándose |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos te acatarrés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos te acatarraste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos te acatarrabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos te acatarrarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos te acatarrarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos te acatarres |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos te acatarraras / Vos me acatarrase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos acatarrete |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no te acatarres |